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Tri-State Tornado Outbreak

Newspaper coverage of the tornado
Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	Wednesday, March 18, 1925
Tornadoes confirmed	9
Max. rating1	F5 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak2	>5 hours
Fatalities	747+ fatalities (695+ from one tornado)
Damage	$1.65 billion (2005 USD)
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado

The Great Tri-State Tornado of Wednesday, March 18, 1925, crossed from southeastern Missouri, through southern Illinois, then into southwestern Indiana, and was the deadliest tornado in U.S. history. With 695 confirmed fatalities, the tornado killed more than twice as many as the second deadliest, the 1840 Great Natchez Tornado. The continuous 219 mile (352 km) track left by the tornado was the longest ever recorded in the world. Historians would recognize it as an example of the maximum issued rating of an F5 on the Fujita scale.

The tornado was part of a larger tornado outbreak with several other destructive tornadoes in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. In all, at least 747 were killed and 2,298 were injured during this unusually early spring outbreak.

While it remains on record as a single tornado of unprecedented duration and track length, some current researchers believe it was more likely a tornado family, a series of tornadoes spawned from the same supercell, which, through happenstance, touched down in locations that made it appear to be a single continuous damage track; this theory, however, can never be confirmed due to the relatively simplistic nature of damage surveys at the time. Thorough new and continuing research has found no break in the path and in fact has found evidence that the tornado touchdown occurred approximately 15 miles before previously thought (Doswell).

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
0	0	0	2	4	2	1	9

Missouri

The vortex was first sighted around 1:01 p.m., north-west-north of Ellington, Missouri. The tornado sped to the northeast, killing two and causing $500,000 worth of property damage and the near annihilation of Annapolis, then struck the mining town of Leadanna. In Bollinger County 32 children were injured when two schools were damaged. Redford, Cornwall, Biehle, and Frohna also were hit by the tornado. At least eleven died altogether in Missouri.

Illinois

Ruins of the Longfellow School, Murphysboro, Illinois, where 17 children were killed. The storm hit the school at about 2:30 p.m.

The tornado crossed the Mississippi River into southern Illinois, hitting the town of Gorham, at 2:30 p.m., essentially obliterating the entire town, killing 34. Continuing to the northeast at an average speed of 62 miles per hour (and up to 73 miles per hour), the tornado cut a swath almost a mile wide through Murphysboro, De Soto, Hurst-Bush, and West Frankfort. Also afflicted were Zeigler, Eighteen, and Crossville. Within 40 minutes, 541 lives were lost and 1,423 were seriously injured. The village of Parrish was completely destroyed, killing 22. In Murphysboro, 234 were killed, the most in a single city in U.S. history. The tornado proceeded to decimate rural areas across Hamilton and White Counties, claiming 65 more residents. In Illinois, at least 613 were killed, the most in a single state in U.S. history.

Indiana

Ruins of the town of Griffin, Indiana, where 26 people were killed

Crossing the Wabash River into Indiana, the storm, which had been weakening, again gathered strength. The tornado struck and nearly totally demolished Griffin, devastated rural areas, impacted Owensville, then roared into Princeton, destroying half the town. The tornado traveled ten more miles to the northeast before finally dissipating at about 4:30 p.m. around three miles southwest of Petersburg. In Indiana, at least 71 perished.

Toll

In all, at least 696 died and 2027 were injured, mostly in southern Illinois. Three states, thirteen counties, and more than nineteen communities, four of which were essentially erased (several of these and others never recovered), were in the path of the record 3.5 hour duration tornado. Total damage was estimated at $16.5 million; adjusted for wealth and inflation the toll is approximately $1.4 billion (1997 USD), surpassed in history only by two extremely destructive tornadoes in the City of St. Louis.[1] These three events in terms of destructivity, inferred by normalized monetary losses, are by far the most destructive (and expensive) tornadoes ever in the United States. Over 15,000 homes were destroyed by the Tri-State Tornado.

Track of the Tri-state tornado, see a more detailed image here.

Nine schools across three states were destroyed in which 69 students were killed, more schools destroyed and more students killed (as well as the single school record of 33 deaths in De Soto, Illinois) than any other tornado in U.S. history.

The unusual appearance of the near record fast moving tornado, best described by the witnesses along most of its path as an amorphous rolling fog, fooled normally weather wise farm owners who did not sense the danger until the storm was upon them. The tornado was accompanied by extreme downburst winds generally throughout the entirety of its course; the tornado and accompanying downbursts increased the width of damage from an average of 3/4-mile to an area three miles wide at times.

In addition to the dead and injured, thousands were left without shelter or food. Fires erupted, exacerbating the damage. Looting and theft, notably of the property of the dead, was reported. Recovery was generally slow with the event leaving a lasting blow to the region.

See also

• List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

References

• Henry, Alfred J. (Apr 1925). "THE TORNADOES OF MARCH 18, 1925" [2]. Monthly Weather Review, 53 (4). pp. 141–145
• Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991, A Chronology and Analysis of Events. The Tornado Project of Environmental Films: St. Johnsbury, VT. ISBN 1-879362-03-1
• --- (2001). The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, OK. ISBN 0-8061-3258-2
• --- (2001). F5/F6 Tornadoes. The Tornado Project of Environmental Films: St. Johnsbury, VT.
• Flora, Snowden D. (1953). Tornadoes of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, OK.
• Root, Clarence J. (Feb 1926). "SOME OUTSTANDING TORNADOES" [3]. Monthly Weather Review, 54 (2). pp. 58–60
• U.S. Weather Bureau (Mar 1925). "SEVERE LOCAL HAIL AND WIND STORMS, MARCH, 1925" [4]. Monthly Weather Review, 53 (3). pp. 130
• Wilson, John W., and Stanley A. Changnon, Jr. (1971). Illinois Tornadoes [5]. Circular 103. Illinois State Water Survey: Urbana-Champaign, IL.

External links

• The Tri-State Tornado (The Tornado Project)
• 1925 Tri-State Tornado (NWS Paducah, KY)
• The Weather Channel's Storm of the Century list - #7 The Tri-State Tornado
• The Great Tri-State Tornado (RootsWeb Genealogy)
• Newspaper Coverage of the Tri-State Tornado Ravage of Murphysboro (NIU Library)
• The 1925 Tornado (Carolyar.com Genealogy)
• 1925 Monster Tornado Killed Hundreds Led to Development of Warning System

Books

• The Tri-State Tornado: The Story of America's Greatest Tornado Disaster, by Peter S. Felknor. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1992. 131 pages. ISBN 0-8138-0623-2.
• The Forgotten Storm: The Great Tri-state Tornado of 1925, by Wallace E. Akin. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2002. 173 pages. ISBN 1-58574-607-X.